Matthysse: I want the Mayweather-Pacquiao winner

By Boxing News - 04/19/2015 - Comments

1-MatthysseProvodnikov_Hoganphotos3By Dan Ambrose: It looks like #2 WBC, #3 WBO 140 pound contender Lucas Matthysse (37-3, 34 KOs) is looking for bigger game than newly crowned WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford now that Matthysse has gotten past Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs) in their 12 round war last Saturday night in Verona, New York.

Matthysse, 32, says he wants to fight the winner of the May 2nd mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Matthysse is aiming high for the biggest fights possible if he can get them. The question is will Mayweather and Pacquiao be interested in fighting Matthysse?

“I want to move forward and fight the winner of Mayweather-Pacquiao,” Matthysse said last night after his win over Provodnikov.

The chances of Matthysse fighting Mayweather or Pacquiao are probably not good right now. The winner of that fight will probably look for a rematch in order to clear his name, and probably to get another big payday. Both Mayweather and Pacquiao are nearing retirement, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the two of them face each other at least two to three times before they hang up the gloves. With Mayweather making $125 million at the minimum for each fight against Pacquiao, he could retire with an additional $250 million if he fights Pacquiao two more times before he hangs up his gloves.

Matthysse looked both good and bad last night in beating Provodnikov. Matthysse shined in the first two rounds against Provodnikov in giving him a real bad beating, but after the 2nd round, Matthysse struggled off and on in the fight. He looked bad in the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th rounds. He looked like he gassed out early in the fight from throwing too many punches in the first two rounds, and then stayed gassed out for the remainder of the fight instead of getting his second wind.

Off the back of Matthysse’s performance against Provodnikov, it would be difficult to justify that he deserves a big money fight against Provodnikov. Matthysse really needs a bigger win over the likes of Crawford, Danny Garcia, Amir Khan or Kell Brook for him to make a case for a fight against the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao winner.

“I think I dominated the fight, I knew I had the best hits,” Matthysse said. “Ruslan is a tough fighter, he took everything I threw at him. I have a lot of respect for him. There was a point when I thought that they would stop the fight because of Ruslan’s cut, but his team was able to control it. I hurt my hand in the sixth round, but I kept going because I wanted to prove that I am the best in the division and that I am ready for the toughest fighters.”

Matthysse won the fight by the scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114. Those were very close scores, and Matthysse did not look good in the second half of the fight due to his fatigue. In the 11th, Matthysse was hurt by Provodnikov. He kept fighting through it, but you could see that he was hurt from a right hand from Provodnikov.



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